The red line indicates the limits of the Germanic Confederation in 1815, as was indicated in the map of Europe after the Congress of Vienna (previous page). Just as in the map appear here marked with different colors the three Member States, for certain territories, federal and foreign to it for others: the Kingdom of Prussia, the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Denmark. The war with Denmark for the issue of Ducati (1864), and the subsequent war against Austria provoked by Bismarck for their administration (1866), Prussia, not only gave the Danish Ducati and other German states, such as Hannover, Hesse Kassel and the Nassau to Prussia, but promotes the formation of the Confederation of Northern Germany, headed by William I of Hohenzollern. The boundaries of the new Confederation are indicated by the darker line. With the war with France (1870), and the proclamation of the German Empire "thanks to iron and blood" (1871), Bismarck completes the unification of Germany, organized by one region, Prussia that, in the beginning of this process, it was quite peripheral to the Holy Roman Empire (see "the Holy Roman Empire at the time of the Swabians"). The border of the Empire is indicated by the purple line: part of it, compared to the confederation established by the Congress of Vienna, including the Duchy of Schleswig, and the two regions conquered from France, Alsace and Lorraine. All regions of Austria are excluded.
The years 1870-71, for the proclamation of the German Empire, the socialist experience of the Paris Commune , the end of the temporal power of the popes, is one of the crucial moments in the history of Europe. After this year, the tangle of nationalities will become increasingly fermenting in Central and Eastern Europe, and the rivalry between the imperialism of the great powers grown uncontrolled, until the catastrophe of 1914. In 1871 the map of Europe is much easier than ever in the course of history. To mention only some aspects of domestic unrest in Central and Eastern Europe, we shall refer to Poland (1), still subject to Russia, to the mosaic of the Habsburg Empire, which the emperor had to concede (1867) at least a certain degree of autonomy in from the largest nationality, the Hungarian (2) (the name of the state has been transformed from the Austrian Empire in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy), and the Ottoman Empire, that have to recognize the Republic of Moldova (3), Wallachia (4) and Serbia (5) autonomy, while were still under the formal sovereignty of the Sublime Port. It survived the Vladiccato of Montenegro (6), fated, with Serbia, to form the nucleus of the future Yugoslavia. Finally the map shows the independence of Greece (7) date from 1830 and the Belgium one (8) 1831. For the russian expansion along the Black Sea, see the following map.
Over the course of two centuries, from 1699 to 1923, the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, formerly hegemonic power in Eastern Europe, he was unstoppable. In 1683 the Turks besieged Vienna, but already in 1699 had to cede the entire Habsburg Hungary (1). Europe, rejected the Asia to the East. Over 700 khanates of the Black Sea, vassals of the Sublime Porte, were absorbed into the Russian Empire until the annexation of the Crimea (2) in 1783 and of Bessarabia (3) in 1812. During the nineteenth century the Christian nationalities of the Balkan Peninsula gained independence one after the other: first, the Greece (4), and the Romania (5), Serbia (6 ), Bulgaria (7 ), and finally Albania (8). Regarding Bosnia-Herzegovina (9), Austria gained its administration by the Congress of Berlin in 1878, but the administration turned to annexation in 1908. For exacerbated nationalism of an area where it was not possible to draw any kind of "national" boundaries, the balkanic peninsula became one of the most dangerous gunpowder in Europe. In 1914 , on the eve of World War I, the Sublime Porte in Europe only retains control of the Straits. Crete (4) was annexed to Greece, Rhodes (10) was occupied by Italy, Cyprus (11) was ceded "rent for 99 years" to Britain. Even North Africa, where french, english and italian colonialism have been able to expand, has escaped its control. To the ottmans remained only the Arab regions. But after the First World War and the "internationalization" of the Straits, some of the same arab regions gain independence as Syria (12) and Palestine, that were handled with a "mandate" to France and England. What remains of the ancient empire will turn, in 1923, in the actual Republic of Turkey (13).
This map shows the major colonial possessions on the eve of the First World War. It should be noted that in the 1880s the colonized areas were limited to some stretches of coast, Tunisia, the Cape Colony, the Member Boers region of the southafrican inland (Orange, Transvaal). In practice, the division of the continent was accomplished in less than thirty years. The four colors marked with an asterisk indicate the possessions of the British, French, Portuguese and Spanish in the 1880s, and those without an asterisk States acquired the possessions of the same in the next period (England: Egypt, 1; Sudan, 2; Uganda, 3; Kenya, 4; Rhodesia, 5; Cape Colony, 6; Nigeria, 7; British Somaliland, 8; Zanzibar, 9. France: Tunisia, 10; Algeria, 11; Morocco, 12; Senegal, 13; West Africa, 14; Equatorial Africa, 15; Djibouti, 16; Madagascar, 17. Portugal: Angola, 18; Mozambique, 19. Spanish: RÌo de Oro, 20; Spanish Morocco, 21). The last three colors indicate the Belgians, Italians and Germans possessions, all after the year 1880 (Belgium: Congo, 22. Italy: Eritrea, 23; Somalia, 24; Libya, 25. Germany: Togo, 26; Cameroon, 27; East Africa, 28; South West Africa, 29). For Egypt and Sudan, the color is outlined, because Egypt was considered legally independent, in spite of the British occupation, so the territory of Sudan was "Anglo-Egyptian". In black are shown independent states (Liberia , 30; Abyssinia, 31, and Tangier, a city internationalized and neutral). With a more marked in red are shown the limits of the Boer republics.
| previous maps | Cartography |
| Home | Battles Index | Chronology | Forum |